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Jennifer Jones helps Kaitlyn Lawes win first Scotties title

Manitoba skip Jennifer Jones (left) celebrates with third Kaitlyn Lawes after they defeated Alberta in the gold medal game during the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Moose Jaw, Sask., on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2015. (Todd Korol/Reuters)

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Jennifer Jones made it clear before coming here that a prime focus was getting Kaitlyn Lawes her first Scotties Tournament of Hearts title.

Mission accomplished.

Not that the Manitoba third had anything to prove, but Lawes just showed again why she’s such a valuable member of Jones’ rink en route to the skip’s most dominant performance in her decorated Scotties history — a 12-1 record, capped by a 6-5 win over Alberta’s Val Sweeting in the final on Sunday night.

“A dream come true,” said Lawes, 26, who now has a Scotties crown to go with her Olympic gold — just like teammates Jones, Jill Officer (the second) and Dawn McEwen (the lead).

“It was a goal of ours to win a Scotties together, this was our third final that we’ve been in with this lineup. I’m so proud of the team to bounce back after such an amazing season last year.”

Lawes was a force the entire time at Mosaic Place, coming in tops among thirds with an 84% shooting percentage during the round-robin.

Now, she’ll have a chance to add another missing line to her resume — a world championship gold. The youngest member of Jones’ team skipped rinks to world junior championship bronze in 2008 and silver in 2009.

“It’s amazing,” Lawes said when asked about the chance to go for gold with the new Team Canada in Japan next month.

“Any chance (to) represent your country on an international stage is a dream come true. The Scotties is very, very special and it’s always been a dream of mine.

“I’m just very proud of the girls for hanging in there until the bitter end.”

The Jones rink, ranked No. 1 in Canada, beat the second-ranked Sweeting rink three times in as many days to walk away with the title.

“It’s so tough to beat a team more than once, let alone three times,” Lawes said.

“Val Sweeing’s team is an amazing team and they’ve had such a fantastic season.”

The championship was Jones’ fifth Hearts crown, putting her just one behind the great Colleen Jones for most in a career. Jones will have a chance to equal that mark next year as Team Canada in Grande Prairie, Alta.

“She’s amazing, she’s so talented and she always just tries to find a way to work harder and improve each year,” Lawes said of Jones.

“She’s so inspirational. I’m so lucky that I have the opportunity to curl with these amazing woman.”

WORLD WATCH

There will be an Olympic final rematch at the world championship, March 14-22 in Sapporo, Japan.

Margaretha Sigfridsson, who lost 6-3 to Jones in the gold-medal game in Sochi, will represent Sweden at the worlds. Sigfridsson, looking for her first world gold after four silvers, faces Jones in the fifth draw on March 14.

Olympic bronze medalist Eve Muirhead, the 2013 world champion, took the Scotland title and is expected to be in the field, along with Russian Olympian Anna Sidorova.

Canada hasn’t won gold at the worlds since Jones accomplished the feat in 2008 in Vernon, B.C.

Aileen Sormunen of Duluth, Minn., will skip the American entry for the first time in Sapporo.

Canada opens against Finland’s Sanna Puustinen.

In four world championship appearances, Jones has two medals — gold in 2008 and bronze in 2010 in Swift Current, Sask.

Canada, skipped by Kelly Scott, won gold at the last world championship in Japan in Aomori in 2007.

Swift Current, Sask., hosts the event next year.

HAMMERING HOME

A crowd of 3,992 took in the Scotties final, pushing attendance to 70,047 for nine days. That’s the 11th-best total in event history and the top total in the past three years … Reid Carruthers will try to give Manitoba a rare double when he competes in the Tim Hortons Brier starting on Saturday in Calgary. The last time one province produced the Brier and Hearts winners in the same year was 2004 when Nova Scotia’s Mark Dacey won the Brier and Colleen Jones (as Team Canada) took the Hearts crown … Pretty good season for Manitoba curling. Along with Jennifer Jones’ crown, Manitoba’s Braden Calvert won the M&M Meat Shops Canadian junior championship and Breanne Meakin came aboard to skip an Ottawa-based team to silver at the world university games ... TSN said 1.05 million viewers watched the Jones-Sweeting final up against the Academy Awards, a very strong number. It was 15% up on last year’s final. The average audience for the event was 566,000 viewers, making it the most-watched Scotties in history.